The sliced tomatoes, squash, and green beans are great sides, but I think they need entrees. So I’m thinking I’ll make something with the ground beef and the spice mix or just sausage patties and grits. I cooked the green beans last night – in boiling water with a little olive oil and crushed garlic and then simmered them for about forty minutes. I don’t think there’s anything special (or difficult) about this recipe; the green beans are so flavorful – they just take care of themselves

The corn’s gone already. We microwaved the ears in their husks and ate them up in three meals.

For the chard, I’ll separate the greens from their stems and sauté the greens in olive oil with raisins and chopped pecans. Then we’ll use whatever’s left of the stems for our traditional Tuesday clean-out-the-fridge stir-fry. In addition to chard stems, this week’s stir-fry will most likely sport half an Asian turnip, some garlic, onion, and probably a little yellow squash.

The first watermelon of the season is usually just fun to eat, but if you’d rather do something different, try Paula Deen’s watermelon salad. One tip: prep the ingredients, keep them separate, and only mix together as much as you need right beforehand. It doesn’t make good leftovers. Everything gets all slimy.

Not pictured is the olive oil and garlic I cooked the shrimp in that we saved for bread dunking. So good! And the next night, we poured the end of oil over the remainder of the goat cheese and spread that on the rest of the bread. Repurposed leftovers rule!